Is a DIY Body Wrap Effective? Here’s Her Experience

Everybody loves a good, solid shortcut – we are, after all, huge fans of a good time-saving hack – but even we have to admit that there are some things in life you just can’t rush or cheat. Number one on that list? Health— especially of the weight-loss variety. (We don’t need to remind you again to check with your doctor before trying any new weight loss program, do we? Well, we just did anyway.) Still, that doesn’t stop people from trying to find ways to lose weight faster than nature, and the biggest trend right now is the DIY body wrap. Similar to the classic spa treatment where you’re basically a mummy for a few hours, these DIY wraps are designed to make your body sweat while you sleep, thus encouraging your water weight to disappear. The idea is that you wrap yourself, go to sleep and wake up a little thinner. Not a bad outcome— if it works. As part of her ongoing “Beauty Hack or Wack?” series, Nicole Skyes decided to test it out for us all. Read on the learn the method she used, and to see if this experiment was a hack hit or a beauty flop.

OVERNIGHT DIY BODY WRAP

MATERIALS

Coconut oil

Saran wrap

Ace bandage (optional)

DIRECTIONS

Rub the coconut oil on the areas of your body you want to wrap and shrink.

Wrap the areas to which you’ve applied the coconut oil in saran wrap. Don’t wrap too tight – be sure not to cut off your circulation or otherwise hurt yourself – but also try not to make it so loose it falls off during the night. You can then follow the wrap up with an ace bandage wrap, or you can, like Nicole, simply put on clothes that will hold the saran wrap in place.

Go to sleep, and let the wrap do its work overnight. When you wake up, unwrap and check out the results! (Note that, like Nicole, your saran wrap may have shifted or twisted during the night.)

That’s it! Easy.

THE VERDICT

So we know it’s easy— but is this DIY body wrap effective? Well, let’s check out Nichole’s results.

Here’s the side-by-side comparison of her stomach:

And here’s the side-by-side comparison of her thighs:

Do you see a difference? Nicole says that she sees a bit more definition in her stomach, and she felt like her thighs were slightly smaller. The differences, though, aren’t that dramatic, as we can clearly see from the side-by-side comparisons. If there are differences, they’re likely to be the type that you’ll notice far more than anybody observing you. After all, who knows your body better than you do?

So while this wrap seems to be a good hack for getting rid of water weight, and possibly firming things up a little the night before a formal event, a DIY body wrap – or any body wrap – is not the solution to long-term weight loss or health. For that, doctor-directed diet and exercise is always your best bet. For more on Nicole’s experience with this experiment, be sure to watch the full video, especially if you’re curious as to what sleeping while wrapped in saran wrap is like! Have any of you ever tried a body wrap like this one before? How did it go for you?